Still smarting, Kerry supporters find sites for their sore eyes

The day after Election Day, as it became clear that George W. Bush had indeed been reelected, Rocky Prozeller, an anti-Bush diehard, sat at his computer and tried to find something funny to say.

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He managed to bang out "10 reasons not to cry yourself to sleep at night" and e-mailed them to two dozen pals. Among the reasons: "Based on the precedent set forth by our commander in chief, we are all on a four-year vacation, effective immediately," and "Pesky words like 'nuclear' and 'subliminal' will be pulled out of American vocabulary."

He also made sure to forward any satirical blasts at Bush that came his way. "It was to cheer my friends up," said Prozeller, 25, of Brighton. "It serves a medicinal purpose. It really helps you overcome that complete depression."

If laughter is indeed the best medicine, liberals and Democrats have plenty to choose from these days. In a striking blend of catharsis, sour grapes, and solidarity, the Internet is aflame with attempts to have the last word -- often an unprintable one -- on Bush's reelection. Parodies that employ humor laced with anger -- or the other way around -- have been whizzing around the Web since Bush defeated John F. Kerry on Nov. 2.

For many young voters, weaned on irony but now grappling with their first political disappointment, these cyberspoofs fill an emotional need while matching their fundamentally sardonic sensibilities.

"These are people who tried to express themselves by voting, and that failed," observed Michael Colton, a 28-year-old screenwriter and comedian on "Best Week Ever," a satirical news show on VH1.

"This is another route to express their views. People who are younger tend to be Web-savvy. If the Internet were part of the Electoral College, it would be a blue state."

After a campaign in which bloggers emerged as a force to be reckoned with, the frenzy of postelection Bush-bashing suggests another role for the Internet: as the center of a collective mourning ritual for those on the losing side of elections. "It's just dressing the wounds, I guess," said Carol Kolb, editor of The Onion, an online humor magazine. "The average person was a little more involved in this election than in past ones."

It could be argued that Republicans and conservatives will have the last laugh, what with their control of the White House, both houses of Congress, and a majority of governors' offices nationwide. No quantity of forwarded e-mail jokes will change that political arithmetic. Perhaps that knowledge explains why, for those Democrats and liberals who had fervently wished for Bush's political demise only to see him renew his four-year-lease on the White House, the funny bone appears to be not far from the spleen.   Continued...